Charles, Pagano lead Girard over Brookfield, 55-53

YOUNGSTOWN — As the quarterback of the Girard High football team, Adam Charles knows a little bit about game leadership.

Those who have watched him perform in both football and basketball have come to appreciate his quiet yet pointed demeanor with the game on the line.

On Saturday at the Covelli Centre, Charles had 11 of his game-high 17 points in the final period, including three 3-pointers, Mat Pagano’s two free throws with five seconds remaining proved to be the game winner as the Indians defeated Brookfield, 55-53, in an All-American Conference game as part of the during the Lariccia Family High School Basketball Series.

“Coach [Nick Cochran] always says to catch the ball, shoot it and don’t worry about anything. Just go for it,” said Charles.

“We’ve had some close games this season that haven’t gone our way so to be able to finally win one of those games is a great feeling.”

Pagano, who had 11 points, was happy to be the one at the foul line with the game on the line.

“The coaching staff always tells us to keep playing hard and you will work through the adversity,” he said.

“This was a big win for us for many reasons. I was just concentrating on making my two free throws and it paid off,” Pagano added.

Girard led 14-7 after one quarter and 26-21 at the intermission, despite a five-point effort by Brookfield’s Pablo Diaz in the second period.

A 3-point bucket by A.J. Weibel at the outset of the second half keyed a 10-2 run for the Indians as they built a 33-23 advantage, but six points by the Warriors’ Anthony Uberti helped Brookfield to a 10-0 run of their own as they knotted the score at 36-all with eight minutes remaining.

The Warriors extended their lead to 41-36 on an Elliot Taylor bucket at 6:44, but consecutive 3s by Charles gave Girard (3-10, 1-2) a 42-41 margin with 5:52 remaining.

When Charles hit his third 3 of the quarter at the 2:17 mark, it gave the Indians a 51-48 advantage.

Jimmy Hawley’s three-point play for the Warriors with 1:50 left knotted the score at 51-all.

Charles then added two free throws and Brookfield’s Elliot Taylor a bucket with 24 seconds remaining to forge a 53-all deadlock.

After Pagano was fouled with five seconds remaining, he calmly sunk his two free throws to give the Indians the lead and the game.

“This was an absolute physical battle tonight,” said Cochran. “We were finally able to finish what we started, playing a full game at both ends of the court.

“We’ve played good quarters this year, an excellent half and several times this season put together three solid periods of play. Tonight, however, we played a full 32 minutes,” he added.

Jimmy Taylor added 14 points for the Warriors (7-4, 0-4).